Consider closing on the most memorable parts of your essay.

The final project for English 102 involves writing a minimum 1500 word persuasive research essay that is substantiated by quality, scholarly sources. You should have a minimum of 5 outside sources, and a maximum of 10. You should use a combination of books, newspaper articles, scholarly journal articles, and websites. The topic of this project is on some aspect of The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. You should attempt to discuss the common themes found within the work, but also strive to include your own personal analysis. In other words, discuss what you have found to be significant about the work or its characters, and what is it you want your audience to understand from your writing. Your essay should be research oriented so that any arguments made are backed up with proper support from credible sources. This assignment constitutes 40% of your overall grade.
To successfully complete this assignment, your essay must be properly formatted to MLA standards and your essay should contain headings that address each section. Headings for each section should be centered and each word capitalized. A brief outline of the assignment is found below:

Title Page
Follow proper MLA style for the initial title page. An example can be found in your textbook, or on the Owl at Purdue University website.
Abstract
A brief summary of your essay; do not exceed 120 words. This should be a separate page that includes the title “Abstract”. I will allow this to be included as part of your total word count.
Introduction
a. Provide a brief introduction of your chosen topic, including why it is relevant today.
b. You should also provide brief statements that touch on the main support of your analysis that is to follow. Your introduction should conclude with an overall statement that sums up your entire argument.
Literary Review
A literary review is a brief summary of the main sources that you have found in regards to your topic. You should provide a solid summary of the significant sources you have found and discuss how they relate to your topic. You do not have to address all your sources, but make sure you have covered the most important in your literary review. You may use material you have previously written in your annotated bibliography; however, you need to tie the material together so it supports the overall theme of your essay. In this section, you should compare sources with one another and discuss which will have the greatest impact in your analysis section. I want to know who the major players are in the study you have chosen.
Analysis
a. Provide examples and support for your main argument or thesis. Any quotes or paraphrases should be properly formatted to MLA standards. Remember to introduce all quotations using the proper signal phrase.
b. Where the literary review discusses sources that you have found, the analysis section of your essay evaluates these sources and the primary work in greater depth. You should discuss your opinion on their findings and discuss any new insights you have found.
Conclusion / Works Cited
a. Provide closing remarks that sum up the importance of the topic you have chosen. Consider closing on the most memorable parts of your essay. Make sure to answer the question, why should we care?
b. Finally, provide a properly formatted MLA works cited page for all your sources that have been used in your essay.